


Holding On

by OctagonsRule



Series: A light wherever you go [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Impulse writing first thing when I woke up today, Post-Sonic Heroes, Shadow has a lot to deal with but for getting through the day denial is good enough for now, feels time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:34:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23394853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OctagonsRule/pseuds/OctagonsRule
Summary: It's funny how dreams can bring back times taken for granted and forgotten about, but less fun when memory lane always leads to the one event that can't ever be left behind entirely. Shadow may make his own path, but his mind still pulls him back towards then he was on the ARK as though something will ever change how the story played out.
Series: A light wherever you go [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1682914
Kudos: 8





	Holding On

Running, he loved to run. How could he have ever forgotten the joy it brought when they would run together? Messing with plans, breaking machines, always slipping away before getting caught only to laugh themselves to the floor as soon as they were in the clear.

He had to keep his pace lower with his top speed, but sometimes he’d cut his advantage, let his legs burn and fall behind, feel the levity of her laughter as she reached behind to help him along. A smile so bright all her face was obscured, her voice more song than words but his trust in her giving no waver, his glove reaching to meet-

The light of her smile turned away, changed to something that hit his heart with a pang as their race was now an escape. Her shoes had never hit the floor so hard while his barely had a chance as she dragged him like he might catch fire if she slowed. Footsteps in the distance marched and made the walls melt into metal on all sides as the sunlight bled into red with anger. 

He couldn’t speak as he heard her struggle to breathe, couldn’t make himself go faster, couldn’t tell where they were going until the floor opened up and he felt the darkness pull him downwards with the hunger of a world. The only lifeline was her hold, her tears hitting his ears and drowning out her words until in an instant Sound itself broke, existence left fractured and flickering in and out in the echo. 

His ears couldn’t stop ringing as she said her last and her hand slipped from his, cold and heavy even as he was the one falling. He tried to see her but Space had folded up around him into a box, unrelenting to any kick of punch or scream. A word- and name?- flew from his mouth, and every time he failed to hear and know it a fury scalded at his bones.

He wouldn’t stop until he knew it. He wouldn’t stop until he saw her. He wouldn’t stop until even death distort-

“ _ Maria- _ ”

Strained a low, weak voice he hardly recognized as his own in the same instant reality snapped back into place, the time somewhere still deep into the night, approaching an unholy morning. Cold had settled across him like dew to a lawn, in spite of the blanket weighing on his body in the dark in a traitorous sign of compassion. He was the Ultimate Lifeform, he didn’t  _ need _ covers to rest… But, now that it was here, it would have been  _ rude  _ to discard. 

The hedgehog bunched the fabric up around him before curling to force his breathing to slow. A tune of a strange language began to hum from the bundle that was Fort Shadow on the couch until its magic did the trick and his heart slowed its fitful beating. 

He briefly considered the journal Rouge had given him before ignoring the item altogether. Others might know his life before, but he’d grant no one foothold in understanding his own dreams better than himself. 

It took a moment, but with a creak of the springs he won first place for getting up for the day and set to making some breakfast to bury the taste of her name before he could let it slip again.


End file.
